Poland

Country code:

PL

Flag:

Background of colaboration

Information about funding opportunities for R&D projects:


Name of the programme	Funding organisation	Countries	Research Actions	Limitations
Horizon 2020	European Commission	EU EU-other countries	Research activities; Collaboration; Staff exchange; Other.	The conditions and constraints are established. They depend on the type of the action or the specific actions.
Patent Plus Programme	National Centre for Research and Development (NCBIR)	Poland	Refund of costs for patenting inventions abroad; the application for refund is required.
Lane Kirkland Scholarship Program	Polish-American Freedom Foundation	Poland	The mission of the Program is supporting democratic and free market transformations in other Central and Eastern European countries. The Kirkland Program offers two-semester non-degree graduate studies for applicants from of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Moldavia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan. The research field should be in line with the following areas: economics and management, public administration (government and local government), business administration, law, social science, political science and international relations, development policy and humanitarian aid.	Citizenship and permanent residence in one of the targeted countries; Master's or specialist's degree; up to 35 years of age (in special cases up to 40); professional experience of at least 2 years and Polish language proficiency requirements (in some cases - English).

Partner search facilities:


Name	Description	Scope	Costs
EC National Contact Points	Advice and individual assistance to establish cooperation. Advice and assistance for R&D cooperation in specific areas,	Given country - EU	Free of charge

Resources of information:


Name	Description	Costs
NETWATCH	Mapping networks; providing information on Joint Calls; analysing the impact of programme collaboration; describing the scope and results of individual networks; supporting mutual learning among transnational programme networks.	Free of charge
COST European Cooperation in the Field of Scientific and Technical Research	It is mainly an inter EU program but also offering cooperation with Israel. COST is an intergovernmental framework for European Cooperation in Science and Technology, allowing the coordination of nationally-funded research on a European level.	Free of charge
EUREKA	EUREKA is an international initiative which coordinates efforts of governments, research institutes and commercial companies concerning innovation. Its members are the EU countries and 14 more from around the world including Russia, Republic of Korea, Turkey, Albania.	Free of charge

Institutions supporting R&D collaboration:


Name	Description
Ministry of Science and Higher Education	Ministry develops the main regulatory framework for HEIs. Competences: providing support for commercialization; limited competences for regulating the transfer of technology.
The National Centre for Research and Development	Performing tasks and providing information within whole area of national science and technology and innovation policies. Funding institution.

Legal framework for R&D cooperation:


Name of the agreement	Description
Visegrad Group	Grants for solutions of research and development projects, but also for exchanges of researchers from the so-called Visegrad Fund. Member countries - Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary.

General IP info

Categories of IP rights:


Category of IPR	Name of the law	Registration needed	Where to register
Copyright	Law on Copyright and Related Rights of 1994	no	-
Patents	Industrial Property Law of 2000	yes	Polish Patent Office
Utility models	Industrial Property Law of 2000	yes	Polish Patent Office
Trade marks	Industrial Property Law of 2000	yes	Polish Patent Office
(Industrial) designs	Industrial Property Law of 2000	yes	Polish Patent Office
Geographical Indications	Industrial Property Law of 2000	yes	Polish Patent Office
Know How	Law on Combating Unfair Competition of 1993, Article 11	no	-
Plant Breeders Rights	Law on Legal Protection of Plant Varieties of 2003	yes	Research Centre for Cultivar Testing (COBORU)
Topographies of Semiconductor Products	Industrial Property Law of 2000	yes	Polish Patent Office

IPRs' databases:


Name of the source	What information can I find?	Language
Polish Patent Office Databases	Database for patents, utility models, designs, trademarks.	English, Polish
Espacenet	Patents granted by European Patent Office.	English
WIPO IP Services	Contains database of PCT patents, International Trademarks and Designs registration and international registration of appellations of origin.	English

Research related limitations and exceptions to IPRs:


Category of IP right	Type of limitation	Description	Relevant regulation
Patents/Utility models/Designs	Prior user rights:	Person who has exploited an invention (utility model/design) in a good faith before priority date may continue to exploit it in his enterprise free of payment to the extent to which he had previously exploited the invention. This right shall also belong to a person who at the same date had already made substantial preparations for such exploitation.	Industrial Property Law of 2000, Articles 71, 100, 118
Patents/Utility models	The following shall not be considered acts of infringement:	The exploitation of an invention / utility model concerning means of transport or their parts or accessories, temporarily located on the territory of Poland; exploitation of an invention / utility model for national purposes, where it is has been found indispensable to prevent or eliminate a state of emergency relating to vital interests of the State, in particular to security or public order; employing of an invention / utility model for search and experimental purposes, for the evaluation thereof, analysis or teaching; the exploitation for the purpose of performing the acts as required under the provisions of law for obtaining registration or authorisation, being, due to the intended use thereof, requisite for certain products to be allowed for putting them on the market, in particular those being pharmaceutical products; the extemporaneous preparation of a medicine in a pharmacy on a physician’s prescription.	Industrial Property Law of 2000, Articles 69, 100
Industrial Designs	The holder of the right may not prevent any third party from:	Use for private and for non-commercial purposes; use for experimental purposes; acts of reproduction for the purposes of making citations or of teaching; use by way of execution, on an individual order, of repairs intended to reproduce a component part of a complex product so as to restore its original appearance.	Industrial Property Law of 2000, Article 115
Topographies of Semiconductor Products
Trade Marks	The right of protection shall not entitle the right holder to prohibit third parties from using, in the course of trade:	their names or addresses; indications concerning the features and characteristics of goods, the kind, quantity, quality, intended purpose, origin, the time of production or of expiration of usability period; a registered mark or a similar mark, if it is necessary to indicate the intended purpose of the product, in particular spare parts, accessories or services; a registered geographical indication, if the use thereof by these parties is authorised under other provisions of Industrial Property Law.	Industrial Property Law of 2000, Article 156
Copyright	These kinds of use shall not be considered as infringements:	Free use; Broadcasting through the press, radio and television of disseminated works for informative purposes; Reports on current events; Use by research and educational institutions; Use by libraries, archives and schools; Quotation; Use for the benefit of handicapped; There are also some other limitations.	Law on Copyright and Related Rights of 1994, Articles 23-33, 33-1 to 33-5

IP Office:


Name of the office	Scope of activities
Polish Patent Office	The Office grants patents and rights to utility models, designs, trademarks, semiconductor products and geographical indications.

IP treaties & agreements:


Berne Convention	introduces minimum standard of copyright protection	yes
Paris Convention	establishes minimum standards of industrial property protection	yes
TRIPS		yes
WIPO conventions		yes
PCT		yes
EPC		yes
Madrid Protocol	allows registration of trademarks via international route	yes
Hague Convention		yes
UPOV		yes

Ownership rules:


Default (statutory) regime for the ownership	Author / creator / researcher
Default (statutory) regime for employee’s creations	Industrial Property: Employer, unless otherwise agreed (Article 11 section 3 of Industrial Property Law of 2000); Copyright: Employer, if an employee has created a work within the scope of his/her duties resulting from the employment relationship, upon acceptance of the work, within the limits resulting from the purpose of the employment contract and the intention of the parties (Article 12 of Law on Copyright and Related Rights of 1994).
Ownership of research results in publicly sponsored research	Where an invention, a utility model or an industrial design has been made by a creator with the assistance of an economic entity, the latter may enjoy the right to exploit the invention, the utility model or the industrial design in its own field of activity. In the agreement on the provision of assistance, the parties may stipulate that the mentioned right referred shall belong in whole or in part to the economic entity (Article 11 section 5 of Industrial Property Law of 2000)
Specific ownership rules for public HEIs/research organisations and possibility to modify it contractually	Copyright: Unless the contract of employment states otherwise, the research institutions shall have the priority in publishing a scientific work when its employee created such work as a result of performing his/her duties under the employment relationship. The author shall have the right to remuneration. (Article 14 of Law on Copyright and Related Rights of 1994)
Specific ownership regime for students/ visiting researchers/doctoral students and possibility to modify it contractually	Copyright: No specific rules except that HEIs get a right of first publication of the final work of the student after 6 months after graduation. Possibility to modify this rule in internal HEIs regulation. (Article 15a of Law on Copyright and Related Rights of 1994)
Related law (name & link)	Law on Copyright and Related Rights of 1994 Industrial Property Law of 2000

Dissemination rules:


Limitations on publication	No statutory rules, however, most internal HEIs’ regulations introduce the obligation for prior notification in order to avoid the risk of destroying the novelty requirement needed for patent procedure. Law on Copyright and Related Rights (in Article 14) provides that the priority of publication shall expire if within six months from the date of delivery of the work no publication contract has been made with the author or if, within two years from the date of its acceptance, the work has not been published.
Specific rules regarding publication of scientific results financed by public bodies	None
Non-disclosure clauses in research contracts	Sometimes (rarely) Polish HEIs request inclusion of non-disclosure clauses.

Specific incentives for innovation activities:


Related Law (name & Link)	Regulation of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education regarding criteria and procedure of awarding a scientific category to higher education institutions
Incentives provided by law for individual researchers	Information not available
Related Law (name & Link)	Information not available
Incentives provided by HEI for researcher	For instance: Participation in royalties (by HEI internal regulation the researchers are entitled to participate in the revenues generated by IP created by him in ca. 50%); Career promotion (innovation activity is an important factor for assessment of researcher); Equity in spin-off companies creted by HEIs on the basis of IP.

Form of commercialisation:


Form of commercialisation	Requirements regarding form of contract	Limitations for HEIs	HEIs Unit responsible for commercialisation	Related law (name & link)
Transfer and Licensing Licensing of IPRs	Written form (provisions of the contract not meeting the written form are invalid).	No	Centres for Technology Transfer	Industrial Property Law of 2000 Law on Higher Education of 2005
Creation of spin-off company	Written form, obligatory valuation of IP being non-cash contribution to newly created company,	Prohibition for HEIs to get shares in commercial companies.	Internal HEI's company dedicated for IP commercialisation.	Industrial Property Law of 2000 Law on Higher Education of 2005

Revenue sharing:


Remuneration/ Participation in revenues	Statutory rules regarding remuneration	Statutory rules regarding revenue sharing	Internal HEIs rules regarding revenue sharing	Related law (name & link)
Patents and other IPRs	Obligatory remuneration for inventors, as far as the right to renumeration is listed (next to the right of authorship and right to obtain the patent) amongs rights acquired by the inventor after creation of an invention.	The employer and employee are free to agree about the amount of remuneration. If they have failed to agree so, the latter should be determined in due proportion to the profits obtained by the economic entity from the exploitation of the invention (utility model or industrial design), taking into account circumstances in which the invention (utility model or industrial design) was made, e.g. the extent to which the creator has been assisted in making the invention, utility model or industrial design, as well as the scope of the creator’s employment duties involved in making the invention, utility model or industrial design. The remuneration can be increased, if the profits obtained by the entity prove to substantially exceed the profits taken as a basis for the purpose of determining the remuneration paid. The law provides the timetable for remuneration installments.	Internal HEIs' regulations of IP establish rules regarding inventors' remuneration as well as rules of calculating it. Common rule regarding revenue sharing is 50% for author and 50% for HEI.	Industrial Property Law of 2000, Article 22
Copyright	Remuneration for authors provided, however the employee is not allowed to participate in revenues generated by the exploitation of its copyright work by the employer.	Not specified	No	Law on Copyright and Related Rights of 1994

Models of contracts used in R&D:


Type of contracts	Short description	Source (link)
Information not available